Just about everyone likes movies and free stuff, right? Right. As one of the largest movie chains in the United States, AMC has both movie fans and a bunch of stuff to give away. Instead of creating boards for each new contest, the brand has lumped every giveaway into a single destination.

Fans can follow just the one board and always be notified about new contests and giveaways.

Each pin takes the users to the contest landing page on their website to drive traffic and collect data. Recently, the company now asks users to repin the giveaways (in addition to filling out the form on their website) to enter.

Tip for 2013: If your company gives things away frequently, consider keeping everything on one board to make it easier for your fans to follow.

While most of the Peugeot board is very self-promotional, their puzzles contests are some of the best on Pinterest.

Peugeot posts a board that showcases one of their cars split up into different images and grayed out. Fans check all over the Peugeot website and Facebook fan page to find the images, then they have to pin them to their own boards.

Tip for 2013: Incorporate your other social profiles and website into your Pinterest contests. Not only does it drive traffic, but you can pick up more fans and have fans check out your products.

Kraft has a huge collection of pinboards with different recipes. For their contest, they asked participants to follow them on Pinterest, create a new pinboard, and pin dessert recipes from their websites. All pins had to include the hastag #kraftrecipes in the description.

Even though plenty of marketers, small businesses, and males have flocked to Pinterest, the majority of users are still females aged 20-40. So brands like Country Living, who share the same customer demographic, can get a lot of traction on the popular social network.

For their Dream Bedroom Pinterest Contest, Country Living had their fans create a special pinboard called “My Country Living Dream Bedroom,” pin at least five things from their website, and tag it with special hashtags.

This contest grabbed tons of repins, hundreds of comments and entries, and generated a lot of interest in Country Living products.

Tip for 2013: While you can do some B2B marketing on Pinterest, think about which of your products and services will really inspire activity. Weddings, home décor, and recipes do extremely well on Pinterest.

The marketing group IMRE Home IQ ran a contest that’s a great example of B2B marketing on Pinterest. The group specializes in marketing for the home and building industry, so they tapped into the home décor section of Pinterest.

The Pantone Color of the Year for 2012 was Tangerine Tango. So with that in mind, IMRE Home IQ had people pin Tangerine Tango home items onto their boards, along with Tangerine Tango items from their own board.

Their entire Tango Sweepstakes board received many likes and repins, which is pretty darn impressive for a B2B company. And while the contest engaged a lot of fans who might not buy their services, it certainly sets them up as an authority on marketing in the home industry!

Tip for 2013: Figure out what is trending within your niche, and tap into that trend for your Pinterest promotion. It’s a great way to generate even more buzz and get more engagement.

At first glance, HSN didn’t do anything ground breaking with their Pinterest contest. They asked their fans to create their ultimate fall wardrobe by pinning items from HSN.com and other sources on the internet.

But HSN also introduced a cool element that the others didn’t: celebrity judges.

This contest recruited Giuliana Rancic, Louise Roe, and June Ambrose (all famous ladies in the fashion industry) to judge the entries. Leaving their contest up to judges takes the attention off the brand. The celebrities can also recruit more interest and participants for the promotion.

Tip for 2013: Bring in guest judges to generate additional excitement about your promotion. You might not know famous fashion experts, but there’s a good chance that you know other experts or respected people in your industry who can help you pick a winner.

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Mandy Kilinskis

Mandy is proud to be a part of QLP’s content team. A self-professed nerd, her interests include video games, sitcoms, superhero movies, iPods and iPhones but never Macs, and shockingly, writing. Her claims to fame are: owning over forty pairs of Chuck Taylor All Stars, offering spot-on coffee advice, and knowing an unbelievable amount of Disney Princess facts. You can connect with Mandy on Google+

Comments

Eric

Not familiar with Pinterest, save being familiar with the name, but I’ve heard good things when it comes to recipes from this site. It’s an interesting idea…I can see how it’d be useful for everyone from wedding planners to interior decorators.

Take it, by the way, it’s the Anglophile in you that led to adding Peugeot? 🙂 Not exactly a common auto manufacturer when it comes to ‘murica.

Actually, the reason is far less exciting. The Peugeot Pinterest board has been featured in a lot of social media blogs. And it really is one of the most interesting and creative promotions happening right now.

I’m a huge fan of Pinterest, but oddly have never participated in a Pinterest contest/giveaway. I guess I always assume that there are millions of people probably participating, so what’s the point in trying? Maybe it could be that I haven’t come across any promotions that are worth the effort. Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to keep searching 😉

My name is Laura and I am a Pinterest Addict. I find that I am discovering new blogs and websites I never would have gone to without seeing my fellow Pinterest peep’s pins. I think Pinterest is a great way for small businesses to get new customers to their site and you can’t go wrong with a fun promotion 🙂

Thanks for the comment, Laura! And I’m with you – I started visiting a lot of new blogs and websites once I joined Pinterest. It really is an excellent way to expose your business to new people! And even more so if you’re giving something away! 🙂

I’m another person who doesn’t really use or follow Pinterest. But, then, I also just really don’t “get” social media. I don’t even use facebook! But, I digress. While I only have the vaguest of ideas of what this site does, it looks like these companies have been able to use to their marketing advantage and can provide a good example for others trying to reach their customers. Some great insights and advice, Mandy! Thanks for informative post!

I think some of these contests are pretty neat and innovative, but I’m wondering how much a quick pin is doing to really foster a community supporting these brands. I think the Country Living Magazine comes the closest, because they asked their fans to create their own dream bedrooms in order to enter the contest. That way, there’s a more creative component than a “click here to enter” investment, and the Pinterest user may look back over that board to get inspiration for a future project and recall the brand.

Most likely these Pinterest campaigns are done for quick backlink juice, which is certainly not the worst thing in the world, but a pinboard full of company logos and little personalization isn’t really going to get anyone to emotionally invest in a brand.

Maybe they’re not getting super-invested in a brand, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that their sales bumped up a little. If you’re cruising around HSN, Country Living, or Kraft to find pins, I can imagine people becoming inspired to actually purchase something.

“Oh, I found this scarf on the HSN website and now I think I need it!”

Something like that. And I imagine that after you pin a bunch of dessert recipes, you’re going to want to try at least one of them.

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